Record levels of plastic pollution found in Lake Erie

A survey of the levels of plastic pollution in the Great Lakes this summer will seek out discarded plastics, such as the bottles seen here, as well as micro plastics that can impact food supplies in the lakes and oceans. This debris was found in Cleveland's inner harbor in June.Lynn Ischay, The Plain Dealer

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Water samples taken this summer from Lake Erie contained more plastic pollution than any oceanic sample on record, researchers said.

Pollutants ranging from bottle caps to paint chips were found during the survey intended to provide data on plastics discarded in the lake. But plastic bits almost too small to see with the naked eye were most prevalent.

"We were kind of expecting bigger pieces of plastic," Mason said. "The highest counts were in the micro-plastic category, less than a millimeter in diameter. That was somewhat surprising."

The survey was a joint venture between SUNY Fredonia and 5 Gyres, a research institute dedicated to the maritime study of plastic pollution.

Researchers aboard the tall ship Niagara used large trawling net, with mesh small enough catch anything larger than one-third of a millimeter, to draw 21 samples across lakes Superior, Huron and Erie.

One sample drawn near the border of Lake Erie's central and eastern basins yielded 600,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometer -- twice the number found in the most contaminated oceanic sample on record, Mason said.

A second sample in Lake Erie yielded 450,000 plastic pieces, while the average sample across the three lakes studied yielded about 8,000 plastic pieces.

Mason predicts Lake Erie may have the highest concentration of plastic because pollution from lakes Superior, Michigan and Huron all flow into it. Lake Erie also has the most populated shoreline, which could be a contributing factor, she said.

Previous studies have shown that plastics degrade into minute particles over hundreds to thousands of years. The abundance of micro-plastics found in the lakes may partially comprise plastics that started small, such as the exfoliant micro-beads found in many beauty products, Mason said.

"I think what this means is that we really have to take ownership of the fact that what we find in the environment comes from us," Mason said. "We forget as a single human being, we have a much greater impact than we think we do."

The minute plastic pieces pose an enormous problem.

Micro-plastics act as powerful magnets of petroleum, industrial chemicals and other harmful pollutants. They can be ingested by sea life and work their way up the food chain.

"As much as we want to think that humans are not part of nature, we are." Mason said. "If we can find plastic in a bird or a fish, we can find it in us."

In the spring, Mason and her fellow researchers plan to test a collection of fish caught during the survey for plastics.

The researchers also hope to one day conduct surveys of lakes Michigan and Ontario, and the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Mason said the world has produced as much plastic during the first 10 years of the millennium than it had in the 50 years prior.

And none of that plastic will go away, she said, adding that it will end up in a landfill or in our water.

"Water is something every living organism on this planet cannot live without," Mason said. "If this resource is so precious that life cannot exist without it, we shouldn't be contaminating it."